Aspen, Colorado:

Today, Erik Cavarra highlights some of the larger Hotel Acquisitions within the last several years within the Aspen Core.

It is rumored that the Sky Hotel is looking to be redeveloped with surrounding condo acquisitions likely

• Sardy House: Closed for $16.25m in 2006
• Hotel Jerome: Closed note sale for $27m in 2010
• Limelight Hotel: Closed for around $36m +/-
• St. Regis Hotel: Closed for $70m 2010
• Dancing Bear Lodge: Closed for $27.5m in 2012

View to read more about the St. Regis Hotel Sale: http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20101002/NEWS/101009954

View to read more about the Hotel Jerome Sale: http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20100319/NEWS/100319772

View to read more about the Limelight Hotel Sale: http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20100106/NEWS/100109908

View to read more about the Dancing Bear Sale: http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20120229/NEWS/120229825

The Motherlode property is also Pending with a List Price of $21,500,000.

Other Commercial Core Purchases during the last year include:

Statistical Market Analysis

Status	# Listings	List Volume	Sold Volume		List Price	Sold Price	Sale/List Price	Total SqFt	List Price Per Total SqFt	Sold Price Per Total SqFt	Days On Market
Closed	3	30,190,000	26,000,000	Low Avg High	5,290,000 10,063,333 15,000,000	5,000,000 8,666,667 12,500,000	0.83 0.88 0.95	4,147 8,681 14,876	1,008.34 1,231.40 1,410.26	840.28 1,085.60 1,210.83	88 214 312

Another noteworthy change within the Aspen Snowmass Areas, includes the Aspen Skiing Company Announcement of cancelling plans for the Limelight Hotel in Snowmass Village, Colorado.

SNOWMASS VILLAGE – The Aspen Skiing Co. has put the brakes on the Limelight hotel project in Snowmass after determining there were too many unknowns surrounding the future of the overall Base Village plan.

“I’m very sorry to be saying we are withdrawing that application and terminating our agreement with Related,” SkiCo president and CEO Mike Kaplan on Monday told the Snowmass Village Town Council.

Kaplan said that uncertainty about the traffic roundabout, building phasing, vesting rights and just what Related has in store for Base Village’s future was enough for SkiCo ownership to decide the project carries too much risk.

Not only was there fear that the hotel’s certificate of occupancy might get held up if requirements, including the traffic circle, weren’t satisfied, Kaplan said the lack of a plan for the rest of Base Village could make it difficult to sell the free-market condos proposed with the hotel application.

In posing the question to Related, “What’s it going to look like directly behind the Limelight?” in the future, Kaplan didn’t receive a firm answer.

The unfinished Building 8 in Base Village. It was once to be a Little Nell Snowmass and its future remain uncertain.

Hotel as catalyst

Last fall, SkiCo announced it wanted to develop a version of its popular Aspen Limelight hotel in Snowmass Village in an attempt to “kick start” development in Base Village, where construction had been stalled for four years.

At the time, Kaplan said, “the unfinished condition in Base Village is damaging the brand, our customers are losing patience and local businesses and taxing districts are struggling.”

The plan for a 102-room hotel and 18 condos, to be constructed on lot 2 — part of the section of Base Village that’s recognizable by its concrete building slabs — was under Snowmass Planning Commission review since January. The board convened weekly in an attempt to meet SkiCo’s aggressive review, approval and construction schedule.

Commissioners were in the middle of completing a recommendation for approval to the Snowmass Village Town Council when Don Schuster, SkiCo’s vice president of hospitality, requested a “pause” to give the company time to speak further with Related — the owner of the property on which the Limelight could have been built. As of Feb. 27, Schuster was still holding meetings with the project’s architectural team in Evergreen, Colo.

Dwayne Romero, president of Related Colorado, said SkiCo’s decision to pull the plug on the Limelight “came together within the last 48 hours.”

About $1 million has been spent by SkiCo on planning for the now-scuttled Limelight, Kaplan said.

Read Full Article here: http://aspenjournalism.org/2014/03/05/skico-cancels-limelight-hotel-plans-for-snowmass-village/

And don’t forget about the Silvertree Hotel. The Silvertree Hotel and Conference Center has been purchased by a joint venture between Starwood Capital Group Global, and Wasserman Real Estate Capital. The purchase also includes the Wildwood Lodge and approximately 20,000 square feet of retail space within the Snowmass Mall.  Price: $42m

Erik Cavarra believes that there will continue to be a strong play for the acquisition of the better commercial properties within the Aspen Core and Snowmass Village areas.